Here's how I knew the article was bogus before I even read it...Right underneath the banner announcing the special WorldNetDaily Report on "The Coming Gold Rally" it says WorldNetDaily Exclusive. Enough said for any not suffering from a tinfoil overdose. But let me add some other points...
1. CMDR Donaldson believes TWA800 was struck on the left side. That means the missile came from the west. The only thing west of TWA800 is Long Island and shallow water. So much for the "Navy shot it down" theory.
2. This quote is patently false "In the event of a missile strike to a large commercial aircraft, the extremely high speed of the missile would carry the warhead right through the plane "almost like it's not even there," said the Air Force source." As usual, WND's only sources are anonymous. Here's the facts. Any surface to air or air to air missile is equipped with a proximety fuzed or impact fuzed warhead. The warhead is designed to explode before it hits or as it hits the aircraft. Not slip through the plane "like it's not even there". The Islip radar may have picked up debris to the right of the aircraft, but it isn't a missile warhead.
3. Another bogus quote "He'll stick a pencil in the bullet holes in the wall to see the angle the bullet entered the wall. You do the same thing here and it's pointing right back at a boat that was in range of a shoulder fired missile". If that were true with a missile (it isn't) then lining up the debris pattern points right to Long Island.
4. CMDR Donaldson claims TWA800 was brought down by a shoulder launched missile. They are all heat seekers. Heat seekers guide to the hottest point of the target. That ain't the fuselage.
I could go on, but I'm bored. Bottomline, the article is as bogus as its source.
I can't imagine why they would change that configuration, unless they illiminated the pumps and used air pressure to force the fuel through the lines.
We burned up an F86 once because an Afterburner boost pump, which turned at 10,000 rpm had a bearing go out and the heat melted the seal and ignited the fuel in the tank. It didn't explode. It just burned. If the tank hadn't been vented(to exhaust fumes) it probably wouldn't have burned.
I have worked on furnaces that were hard to light with igniters. Sometimes the fuel would build up and when it finally lit it would burn furiously but it didn't explode. That fuel oil,like JP4, has to be atomized for efficient ignition to occur.
They don't use spark plugs on diesel engines. They drive the cylinder air temperature up with pressure and then spray atomized fuel into the combustion chamber. They often have to use ether to get them going. In cold weather they do not shut them down, because they are so hard to get started.
No I'm afraid you can't convince me that the center fuel tank exploded.